CURTIS WOODHOUSE: The beautiful game has become a farce

CURTIS WOODHOUSE

With the dismissal of Tim Sherwood from his post as manager of Aston Villa came further confirmation that the game of football has descended into farce.

Just 12 games ago, Sherwood was leading an unfancied Villa side to an FA Cup final. He also did a decent job keeping them in the Premier League last season, yet now he’s lost his job.

Tim Sherwood's sacking at Aston Villa highlights what a farce football has become, says Curtis

Results this season have been poor, so far, but how much of the blame can you pin on Sherwood?

Given the way the club is run, I don’t think he ever really had much chance of succeeding.

He lost his two best players in Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph in the summer, and then the club has brought in a load of new signings who were chosen by someone else.

Only in football would you have businessmen and an American Football expert in charge of player recruitment instead of the team’s manager, a guy with more than 30 years experience in the game and someone who has been around the Premier League for two decades.

Can you imagine something like that happening in your place of work? You’d be outraged if someone else made a load of mistakes, but made you take the blame and then sacked you.

You wouldn’t ask a chef to cook you a specific dish, but provide him with the wrong ingredients, then blame him for it not tasting very nice, yet that’s the equivalent of the goings-on we’ve seen at Villa.

It’s ridiculous, but the sad thing is that this type of situation is unfolding all too often and becoming part and parcel of the game.

Managers don’t get a fair chance to do their jobs properly before they get axed, yet this is pretty much just accepted as the norm nowadays.

In the Premier League it’s because the cost of falling out of the top flight is unthinkable due to the amount of cash involved.

The wrong people are making the decisions, the money men have too much sway and owners panic after a couple of bad results, sack the gaffer and bring someone new in to provide a quick fix.

This is one of the main reasons why the beautiful game is fast becoming a laughing stock.

EUBANK HAS THE TOOLS TO GO ALL THE WAY ...

Chris Eubank Jr blew Tony Jeter away inside two rounds on Saturday, and is a fighter who I think has what it takes to go all the way.

My former trainer Adam Booth is now working with Eubank and he cannot speak highly enough of him.

Adam knows exactly what he’s talking about and if he praises someone then you sit up and take notice.

He really rates Eubank and has high hopes for him, so as far as I’m concerned he must be special.

We can all see just by watching him fight that Eubank is talented, but only guys like Adam really know just how good he can be.

Eubank fights Spike O’Sullivan next and there is already some animosity between the two of them which should add something extra to what was already likely to be a thrilling bout.

O’Sullivan hits hard and there’s no doubting the fact that he will come for a tear-up. All the ingredients are there for a good contest.

I think Eubank will win the fight, and it will be interesting to see where he goes from there.

He’s already come out and said that he wants to fight Gennady Golovkin, who is currently by far and away the best boxer in the middlweight division.

Eubank reckons that the Kazakhstani is “easy to hit” and talked up his chances of causing him problems.

While I agree that Golovkin does take a fair few shots, if you look closely you’ll see that they tend to be glancing blows and he rarely gets caught by anything flush.

Golovkin is very much the real deal, but, that said, I’m surprised to hear the amount of criticism Eubank has received for calling him out.

I don’t see a problem with him wanting to test himself against the very best out there, infact, I love the fact that he is so hungry.

As a prospect that is how you get to the top of the game, by challenging the best and beating them.

If the two of them were to get in the ring this weekend then I fear I that Eubank would get knocked out.

At this moment in time, it’s too early for him, but give it a couple of years, once he’s developed as fighter, and I think he could be a genuine contender.

CRAVEN PARK MOVE IS A HUGE BOOST FOR HULL UNITED ...

I mentioned in last week’s column that Hull United, the football club I manage, were on the verge of securing a move to a new home.

I am delighted to be able confirm that we will now be playing our home fixtures at Craven Park, Super League side Hull Kingston Rovers’ ground.

This is a huge boost for us and I’m certain that it will benefit us both on and off the pitch.

The facilities we now boast will be second to none at our level and we are looking forward to playing football on an amazing surface on a really big pitch, something which will suit our game.

We’ve already signed new players on the back of securing Craven Park as our new home ground.

I’ve barely had to say a word to sell the club to them, they’ve looked around the stadium and just been blown away.

Our first home match at our new ground will take place on November 10 against Bottesford Town, the team who are currently second in our league. It should be a great occasion and I can’t wait for it.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hull KR chairman Neil Hudgell for making this move possible.